January 31
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
January 31 is the 31st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 334 days remaining after January 31 until the end of the year (335 in leap years).
[change] Events
- 1504 – France cedes Naples to Aragon.
- 1606 – Gunpowder Plot: Guy Fawkes is executed for his plotting against Parliament and James I of England.
- 1747 – The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Dock Hospital.
- 1814 – Gervasio Antonio de Posadas becomes Supreme Director of Argentina.
- 1849 – Corn Laws abolished in the United Kingdom.
- 1865 – American Civil War: Confederate General Robert E. Lee becomes general-in-chief.
- 1867 – Maronite nationalist leader Karam leaves Lebanon on board of a French ship for Algeria
- 1876 – The United States orders all Native Americans to move into reservations.
- 1915 – World War I: Germany uses poison gas against Russians.
- 1917 – World War I: Germany announces its U-boats will engage in unrestricted submarine warfare.
- 1918 – A series of accidental collisions on a misty Scottish night leads to the loss of two Royal Navy submarines with over a hundred lives, and damage to another five British warships.
- 1929 – The Soviet Union exiles Leon Trotsky.
- 1930 – 3M markets Scotch Tape.
- 1936 – The Green Hornet radio show debuts.
- 1944 – World War II: American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.
- 1945 – US Army private Eddie Slovik is executed, the first American soldier since the Civil War to be executed for desertion.
- 1946 – Yugoslavia's new constitution, modeling the Soviet Union, establishes six constituent republics (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia).
- 1950 – President Harry S. Truman announces a program to develop the hydrogen bomb.
- 1956 – Guy Mollet becomes Prime Minister of France.
- 1958 – The first successful American satellite, Explorer I, is launched into orbit.
- 1958 – James Van Allen discovers the Van Allen radiation belt.
- 1961 – Ham the Chimp travels into outer space.
- 1968 – The NLF attacks the United States embassy in Saigon.
- 1968 – Nauru declares independence from Australia.
- 1971 – Apollo program: Astronauts aboard Apollo 14 lift off for a mission to the moon.
- 1971 – The Winter Soldier Investigation, organized by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War to publicize war crimes and atrocities by Americans and allies in Vietnam, begin in Detroit, Michigan.
- 1985 – World renowned molecular biology researcher Amany Gouda born.
- 1988 – Super Bowl XXII: The Washington Redskins win their second championship of the 1980s, 42-10.
- 1990 – The first McDonald's opens in Moscow, Russia.
- 1993 – Super Bowl XXVII: The Dallas Cowboys defeat the Buffalo Bills, 52-17.
- 1995 – President Bill Clinton authorizes a $20 billion loan to Mexico to stabilize its economy.
- 1996 – An explosives-filled truck rams into the gates of the Central Bank in Colombo, Sri Lanka killing at least 86 and injuring 1,400.
- 1999 – Super Bowl XXXIII: The Denver Broncos defeat the Atlanta Falcons, 34-19. After the game, Family Guy aired its pilot episode.
- 2000 – An Alaska Airlines MD-83 crashes in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Malibu, California killing 131.
- 2001 – In the Netherlands a Scottish court convicts a Libyan and acquits another for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 which crashed into Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.
- 2004 – Mystery Science Theater 3000 ends its run on the Sci-Fi Channel.
[change] Births
- 1512 – King Henry of Portugal (d. 1580)
- 1543 – Tokugawa Ieyasu, Japanese Shogun (d. 1616)
- 1762 – Lachlan Macquarie, Scottish Governor of New South Wales (d. 1824)
- 1797 – Franz Schubert, Austrian composer (d. 1828)
- 1835 – William Charles Lunalilo, King of Hawai'i (d. 1874)
- 1868 – Theodore William Richards, American chemist (d. 1928)
- 1881 – Irving Langmuir, American chemist (d. 1957)
- 1884 – Theodor Heuss, first President of the Federal Republic of Germany (d. 1963)
- 1892 – Eddie Cantor, American actor and singer (d. 1964)
- 1902 – Alva Myrdal, Swedish politician (d. 1986)
- 1905 – John O'Hara, American writer (d. 1970)
- 1913 – Walter Winterbottom, English football manager (d. 2002)
- 1919 – Jackie Robinson, American baseball player (d. 1972)
- 1920 – Stewart Udall, American politician (d. 2010)
- 1920 – Bert Williams, English footballer
- 1921 – Carol Channing, American actress and singer
- 1921 – Mario Lanza, American singer (d. 1959)
- 1923 – Norman Mailer, American writer (d. 2007)
- 1929 – Jean Simmons, British actress (d. 2010)
- 1935 – Kenzaburo Oe, Japanese writer
- 1937 – Philip Glass, American composer
- 1938 – Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands
- 1941 – Eugene Terre'Blanche, South African far-right politician (d. 2010)
- 1956 – John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, British singer
- 1959 – Anthony LaPaglia, Australian actor
- 1960 – George Benjamin, British conductor and composer
- 1963 – John Dye, American actor (d. 2011)
- 1970 – Minnie Driver, British actress
- 1971 – Patrick Kielty, Northern Irish comedian
- 1973 – Portia de Rossi, Australian actress
- 1977 – Kerry Washington, American actress
- 1979 – Daniel Tammet, British autistic savant
- 1981 – Julio Arca, Argentine footballer
- 1981 – Justin Timberlake, American singer
- 1982 – Allan McGregor, Scottish footballer
- 1982 – Elena Paparizou, Greek singer
- 1983 – Fabio Quagliarella, Italian footballer
- 1985 – Adam Federici, Australian footballer
[change] Deaths
- 743 – Muhammad al-Baqir, Shia Imam (b. 676)
- 1398 – Emperor Suko of Japan (b. 1334)
- 1435 – Xuande, Emperor of China (b. 1398)
- 1561 – Menno Simons, Dutch Mennonite leader (b. 1496)
- 1580 – King Henry of Portugal (b. 1512)
- 1606 – Gunpowder Plot conspirators executed:
- Guy Fawkes (b. 1570)
- Ambrose Rokewood
- Thomas Wintour (b. 1571)
- 1615 – Claudio Aquaviva, Italian Jesuit (b. 1543)
- 1632 – Joost Bürgi, Swiss clockmaker and mathematician (b. 1552)
- 1665 – Johannes Clauberg, German theologian and philosopher (b. 1622)
- 1686 – Jean Mairet, French dramatist (b. 1604)
- 1720 – Thomas Grey, 2nd Earl of Stamford, English privy councilor
- 1729 – Jakob Roggeveen, Dutch explorer (b. 1659)
- 1736 – Filippo Juvara, Italian architect (b. 1678)
- 1788 – Charles Edward Stuart, pretender to the British throne (b. 1720)
- 1790 – Thomas Lewis, Irish-born Virginia settler (b. 1718)
- 1794 – Marriott Arbuthnot, British admiral (b. 1711)
- 1851 – David Spangler Kaufman, American politician (b. 1813)
- 1892 – Charles Spurgeon, English preacher and evangelist (b. 1834)
- 1907 – Timothy Eaton, Canadian department store founder (b. 1834)
- 1933 – John Galsworthy, English writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1867)
- 1944 – Jean Giraudoux, French writer (b. 1882)
- 1945 – Eddie Slovik, American soldier (b. 1920)
- 1955 – John Mott, American YMCA leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1865)
- 1956 – A. A. Milne, English author (b. 1882)
- 1967 – Eddie Tolan, American athlete (b. 1908)
- 1970 – Slim Harpo, American singer (b. 1924)
- 1972 – King Mahendra of Nepal (b. 1920)
- 1973 – Ragnar Anton Kittil Frisch, Norwegian economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1895)
- 1974 – Samuel Goldwyn, film producer (b. 1879)
- 1976 – Ernesto Miranda, American litigant (b. 1941)
- 1990 – Rashad Khalifa, Egyptian-born imam (stabbed) (b. 1935)
- 1992 – Willie Dixon, American musician (b. 1915)
- 1995 – George Abbott, American stage director and producer (b. 1887)
- 1997 – John Joseph Scanlan, Irish Catholic prelate (b. 1930)
- 1999 – Norm Zauchin, baseball player (b. 1929)
- 2000 – Gil Kane, Latvian-born comic book writer (b. 1926)
- 2001 – Gordon R. Dickson, Canadian writer (b. 1923)
- 2004 – Eleanor Holm, American swimmer (b. 1913)
- 2011 – Eunice Sanborn, American supercentenarian (b. 1896)
